If They Call It Heartache
by StarreNitez
Summary: Bella & Alice both descendants from Witches trying to maintain a normal high school teenage life amidst a centuries long battle with the Volturi. Can they & the Cullen Clan co-exist in support of Jaspers GF Alice or will Edwards initial hatred towards Bella be too much? Hiding family secrets & first loves is hard enough but the final battle with the Volturi is approaching.
1. If They Call It Heartache Chapter 1

**********Hi everyone! :) If you're reading this, thanks so much for taking the first step into reading my little 'ol story about Edward and Bella. This is my first attempt at fan fiction and I know that are plenty of mistakes but I really worked hard to convey the overall concept and personality of the characters so far. Yes Edward is a Vampire in this story along with the rest of the Cullen Clan with the exception of Alice who is currently human along with Bella. While the majority of the story is my deviation I feel that it still retains the 'feeling' of the characters that I love from Stephanie Meyer. So please please leave some comments and enjoy :) ********** UPDATED 7 July 2013

I can't quite put into words how much I hate you...well maybe I can...I despise you with everything in my earthly being. Simply seeing your face is enough to make me caw out my eyes one at a time. Hearing your voice instantly causes an intense desire to shove a freshly-heated fireplace poker in my right ear and push it rapidly through to the left. Dammit! Maybe I should have chosen the ear-thing first to end it all at the beginning, but then I couldn't see your beautiful face before my life was cut short. "AHHHHHH", I groaned with frustration. Although I invoke pure delight at being branded with the loner 'who doesn't care about anyone else or their feelings' stamp (a very unique special order design), I hoped that no one in the classroom had heard my latest outburst.

It infuriated me that I could never get completely through the intensity of my deranged emotions for Edward without my brain scrambling up all my hatred and mixing in that 'stupid-love-shit' as I'd grown to affectionately refer to it as. "Class please turn to page 245 as we begin a two week long research study on World War II and its economic effects on the United States, Edward you may begin reading the first paragraph" Professor Huntington droned on in a voice as soothing as hearing a neighbors lawnmower outside your window at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning after crawling into bed mere hours before.

I foolishly glanced over to my far left to watch Edward as he begin to read. His golden-hued eyes fixed attentively on the task at hand while slowly running his long fingers through the disarrayed windstorm aftermath that was his beautiful coppery-red locks. As my breathing rate begin to increase to dangerously embarrassing levels, I glanced back down and begin to ponder over the reaction I would receive from him and our fellow classmates if I were to pick up my hefty size history book at this exact moment and chuck it straight towards his heavenly face.

Sure there would be some bloodshed and enough witnesses to put me away in a small cozy prison cell for life, but I would no longer be subjected to listening to his exquisitely alluring voice, even if it was merely to recite a mind-numbing chapter in history. Maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with my heart beating out of my chest every time he was around, calming down only slightly in order to push the blood-flow back towards my brain, beginning the familiar session of increasingly intimate thoughts of us being together. Then the realization that none of it would ever come true immediately and crudely crept back in replacing my imaginary bliss with pure self-loathing.

That was the worst part, that I could never fantasize about us together without my brain eventually strangling my heart into submission punishing me with the harsh reality of my loneliness. I wanted nothing more then to be a stereotypical teenager and doodle our names together in hearts on my notebook or spending hours dreaming of our perfect first date, but no matter how hard I try I know the truth- he doesn't even know that I exist.

Somewhere in my mental haze I heard the faint sound of the class bell and saw a shadowy outline of fingers moving back and forth in front of my eyes. Slowly the image of the classroom reappeared and with it the realization that my best friend Alice was currently telling me that I was number one in sign language; however, her specific finger usage was a few digits off. "Was Edward naked in this daydream or were you two leading up to it?" Alice so eloquently stated while snickering. "I love you too bitch" my typical response to her whenever I wanted to buy a little more time processing my thoughts after an Edward filled zone-out session. I always felt weaker after I came back down from the clouds, like my mind sucked up all my bodies energy working though my little world of Edward.

Maybe if I could just open up more to Alice I'd have a little bit more peace but I knew I never could. Getting past how embarrassing the whole situation is to me proved so difficult that I even had trouble talking to Alice about it and she's become closer then anyone I've ever known to discovering the 'real' me. Call it a family trait or a personal character flaw but the minute I'm close to sharing my truest, most intimate thoughts and feelings was when I shut down completely. I clam up as if someone had just tripped a security alarm hardwired directly into my heart.

Everything then goes into lockdown mode causing me to reverse any personal questions in the direction of the other person or cowardly running away. My only justification based on my previous failed attempts at getting close to people in the past, hell even my own mother knew what I was and wisely choose to run as soon as I was born. I'd learned that feeling lonely and being alone was significantly better than carelessly giving another the power to break my heart later on, I knew that I'd never be able to recover.

I'm quite good at being emotionally disconnected to people, so good that I feel naturally conditioned to see exactly when people want to get closer to me and quickly I begin the process of either removing them completely from my life or alienating them to the point where they can easily sense my aversion - thereby slowly forcing them to break up with me. I suppose that I somehow feel less guilty when they leave me, almost a relief that there was no longer a risk that I could damage them with all of my inner demons. I tell myself that I'm doing a self-less thing; however, I'm fully aware of the painful truth of just how immensely selfish and scared I really am. I've just chosen to bury the facts very deeply from myself.

"Most people would be happy that the last class bell has rung, and that they are free to leave this hell hole. Especially, considering its our senior year but you Bella are the exception to the norm and you are bringing me down with you. So, I fully expect you to make up these precious moments of my life either by buying me a new outfit or... ARE YOU LISTENING?!". I should have fully expected Alice's ranting, she's never been known for her patience especially when it's clear that I barely heard anything that she'd said.

"Alice I heard you, a new outfit, something-something, you love me so much that it hurts sometimes, blah blah and that you cherish the very ground I walk upon", I said sarcastically with a followup grin. "Come on lets go, I just need to stop by my locket first", I said while gathering up my previously planned murder-weapon-history book and book-bag. As we walked, I looked at her large bright ocean blue eyes, eyes that sometimes felt like that looked into my broken soul and saw all of my lies but still chose to be my friend anyway.

Turning the dial and opening my locker, I looked up at my mirror and quickly glimpsed the small crescent shaped scar centered over the tip of my nose. Seeing the scar took me back to the day Alice and I met a year ago, yet it felt like a century. I'd worked hard all 11th grade, along with the school years before, trying to remain invisible to everyone. My mission in life was to simply go to class with my head down, never speaking to anyone unless they expressly asked me a direct question but even then I was so cripplingly self-conscience that I figured they were either talking to me out of pity or for some upcoming embarrassing practical joke.

I ghosted though these hours until finally I was free to go. I always headed straight home to do any homework, fix dinner for Charlie, sleep, and then go back to my own personal silent suffering the next day. It was a routine that felt so engrained within my bones and so soothing to me that I wasn't able to tell the difference between the days anymore. Everything changed that day while stuffing books into my locker after 4th period English. While deep in thought about a upcoming essay, a thick blanket of long glossy raven black hair strands blew into my face. It was so unexpected that I was semi-disorientated, backing away quickly on instinct from my locker into stream of people rushing to lunch. Instantly I was forcefully shoved back towards my locker most likely on purpose from one of my extremely considerate classmates.

Balance off and trying to brace myself with the locker door, my nose paid the price from its rough metal edges. Glancing down I saw the blood trail starting its decent rapidly down my face. I've never had a strong tolerance for blood, in fact even the smell of it will cause me to hug the floor within seconds. That knowledge coupled with the realization that I was in the middle of a crowded hallway with nothing to hide the blood, my embarrassment, or my oncoming panic attack - I was frozen on the spot.

It felt like someone had injected some type of paralysis drug into my bloodstream, leaving my limbs immobile and all of my other senses slowly deteriorating as well. My vision had changed to nothing but a shadowy blur while I continued to feel the sensation of my heartbeat in my ears. The sound so loud that I was positive everyone could also hear it and that they would slowly begin directing their attention towards me.

"The hallway is clear and the bleeding has pretty much stopped, now lets get you to the nurse", though my haze I could barely make out the girls words and the sensation of something soft pressing against my nose. Oddly, I felt safe and somehow knew that this was sincere gesture to help me. Again I felt the tell-tell signs of another fainting spell, I tried to warn her but my vocal cords had already deserted me. The darkness overtook me but not before I heard "At least now I know why there was a second empty spot in my vision" followed by a soft twinkling laugh.


	2. If They Call It Heartache Chapter 2

**********For everyone who took the time to read Ch.1 of 'If They Call It Heartache' thank you so much :) Hopefully you'll enjoy Ch.2 as well. Again I love comments or questions so don't be shy! I'm a big fan of a slow build up in a story line, without getting to know the characters a little it's a bit hard to cheer or be upset with them later on haha. Enjoy :) **********

The next thing I remember was glancing up painfully at some overhead bright fluorescent lights. Slowly I closed my eyes and begin to test each of my extremities, a bit fearful that my two recent fainting spells might have caused some damage. Obviously I still retained my vision although still suffering a bit from the sudden exposure to the light, I focused instead on my lower body.

Wiggling my toes inside my beat-up low-top red converse shoes I could have easily been auditioning for a remake of the 'Kill Bill' movie series. My efforts were met with success, at least until I decided to stretch my arms and legs. The familiar sounds of crunchy wax paper from the nursing station table were expected; however, the sensation that each one of my hands were being held was not. My entire body immediately tensed up.

Quickly I darted my eyes down towards my left, drawn by some invisible pull towards the coolness of the fingers lightly gripping that hand. Before my eyes could fully focus the pull was gone and I felt the sudden breeze of a nearby door opening and closing. Oddly, I felt an immense emotional loss from the removal of physical contact. Before being able to fully process those new feelings, my attention was swiftly diverted down towards the soft tugging of my right hand. I refused to make the same mistake of focusing on the hand first.

Glancing up I saw a little pixie fairy-like creature with large wide clear sky blue eyes, cautiously watchful of my reaction, coupled with a perfectly clear pale skin, a tiny nose and full lips. To add to her exquisiteness was the stark contrast of her wrist length onyx hair, the object of my downfall this afternoon, sleekly pulled back into a high pony tail for which I was inwardly very grateful. The pixies lean athletic body appeared to be so tiny that if I exhaled hard enough she would probably crash into the wall; however, her strong grip on my hand made me instantly reexamine my assessment.

I unexpectedly discerned a sort of quiet strength flowing from her through me, like a willingness for me to get better. Unfamiliar to any aspect of kindness, I rapidly withdrew my hand but immediately felt a sharp ping of remorse seeing the look of sadness in her elfin face. "I'm sorry", I mumbled while drawing all my attention to the floor. "It's ok, we're going to be best friends soon anyway," came an angelic almost child-like voice, "by the way I'm Alice...hold that thought until we deal with her" she suddenly whispered while hopping up to sit on the end of the table. "Wha..." came hoarsely out of my mouth but was interrupted by the rough four-packs-of-cigarettes-a-day gruff voice of Ms. Finnely the school nurse who seemed mildly irritated that she had a patient to attend to.

"It seems that you've been a bit clumsy with your locker door Isabella. You have by far set a record for the most blood shed I've ever seen on such a small cut. You are very lucky that Mary-Alice was there" she said smirking. I internally cringed knowing that an inquisition into my home life and medical history was rapidly approaching again from this devil-woman unless I made up another valid excuse. Apparently the decision to go into the medical field was some crude joke on her part against all of humanity or at least all of Folks Middle School.

"I've tried Sheriff Swan at home but didn't get an answer so I tried the station instead. Apparently he's on vacation until Monday afternoon, so I left a message on his cellphone. Why he would leave an accident prone sixten year old like you alone is beyond my comprehension. Now who else can I call as your emergency contact that can come pick you up?" Lucifer droned on taking special care to continuously glare at me with her beady black little eyes, seemly ready to attack any explanation.

Luckily over the past four years I'd grown used to Ms. Finnely's particular brand of cruelness and how to navigate its murky waters. Gathering what little strength was gradually returning into my body, I coerced myself through my mental haze in order fully commit to my typical routine for those situations. 'Lie, Lie, Lie' my inner mantra begin, but was interrupted by a twinkling laugh at my feet. "Bella is actually spending the weekend with my grandmother and I until Sheriff Swan gets back. I've already called my grandmother, while Bella as sleeping, to pick us up. She'll be here any minute so no worries Bella will home safe, I promise".

Hearing her speak more than a few words this time I was able to detect a faint southern accent on several of her words that I couldn't quite place, maybe Georgia or Mississippi. "Good, its past school hours anyway and I'd like to finally get home". "Isabella", Demon turned back towards me, "Make sure you have help tomorrow taking the bandage off. Get plenty of rest tonight and you should be fine. Also make sure that Sheriff Swan signs this incidence report and return it to me on Monday". With those icy words of compassion, Dragon-lady turned picking up a pack of cigarettes from her desk. Flopping down she withdrew a cigarette and lit it while tilting her head back on the long drag, completely disregarding pixie and my presence any longer.

Lightly jumping down from the end of the table fairy briskly floated over towards my head. "Just ease up slowly and sit on the end, I'll help you Bella", she kindly said. I tried and failed to look her in the eyes recalling her previous look of disappointment the last time she tried to comfort me. I steely prepared myself for the physical contact and allowed her to gently help me up towards the edge of the nursing table.

Now upright I was felt almost normal again. Anxiously I boldly looked at Alice again and was greeted with a gleaming smile. "Thanks again for your help Ms. Finnely, Bella and I will wait outside and get some fresh air until my grandmother gets here. Have a great afternoon". Cigarette now to its nub and with her head still leaning back, Alice was rewarded for her efforts with a slight dismissive wave in our direction. Suppressing a chuckle disguised as a quick cough, Alice turned back towards me and whispered "Forget about her, your legs are still going to be weak but it'll get better as we walk towards the parking lot, I promise".

Still swimming mentally with questions for her, we walked arm and arm out of the oppressing nursing station, down the empty hallways, and out into the crisp fall air. We were settled into a wordless emotionally comfortable walk, with each step my strength gradually returning; however, as Alice begin heading across the empty parking lot in the opposite direction of my house I stopped to face her finally breaking my silence and blurted out "Where are we going? Why did you lie for me?". Normally I could always control my emotional outbursts but this was a situation I'd never been in and had no idea how I was going to organize all of the emotions I was feeling.

Alice, with a playful glint in her eyes, wordlessly glided around me and continued walking. On instinct I picked up my pace to catch up to her despite seeing that she was headed into the deep forest ahead . "Don't worry I changed the numbers so 'Dragon-lady' called my cellphone and not Charlie's, so right now he's still up North fishing happily with Billy Black, still thinking that you are safe and sound" was the response I received, throwing me completely off balance with all of my other questions.

Continuing further on a newly formed narrow pathway, that looked like it could be reclaimed by nature at any minute, trying my hardest not to trip over every rock or be blinded by every branch. Throughout my ordeal Alice seemed to know the way effortlessly and guided me upright before I could face-plant into the forest or create any new facial damage. Still frozen in my questioning, heading deeper still into mother-nature, I sensed that she was about to begin speaking again. "I was born in Biloxi, Mississippi although my grandmother Cynthia and I have moved around to almost every state since then. Trust me I can't wait to talk about everything with you. We're almost at my house now" she said glancing over at me with a beaming smile.

Shyly I looked down and caught a glimpse at my watch realizing just how long I had been unconscious in the nursing station and that Alice had been by my side the entire time. Abruptly I remembered the chilly hand that caused such a sudden emotional response from me. "Alice, who else was in the room with us when I was sleeping, I felt someone holding my left hand". I tried to organize that brief encounter in a futile effort to figure out why I wanted so desperately to find out who the person was. As I looked at Alice, I saw her happy careful expression change into an emotional torn one. "I wish that he had just stayed and explained it all to you, if he could only see that there is no escape from destiny and stop punishing himself" Alice slowed her quick-footed steps speaking more to herself than to me.

"Alice! Who was it?" I almost yelled with frustration that I was unaware that I was even capable of. "Edward Cullen" came the almost inaudible response from Alice and I felt rather and saw her unmistakable excitement barely being contained within her small frame. "Edward! But...but...but... why would he be in the nursing station holding my hand? He doesn't even know that I exist" I inhaled sharply from the sudden jumbled outburst and from the increased levels of oxygen that my lungs needed.

"Slow down and breathe Bella just breathe, everything is going to be ok. Remember I already promised that I'll explain everything that I can". I heard her words but was prevented from responding while I internally tried to figure out why the hollowness inside my chest was suddenly showing signs of life. I feared another fainting spell and forced myself to refocus on Alice's last statement. "It was never hollow just waiting for the right people to help nurture it". Alice's words shocked me back into the present causing me to wonder how in the hell she knew exactly what I was feeling but after Charlie and Edward revelation I finally knew that it was best to simply trust Alice and her promise to tell me the truth in her own way.

"We're here." Finally breaking out of the thick forest into a wide clearing Alice's grandmothers house slowly come into view but not before I was able to look up and around at the broad immense trees, surrounding the area, filled with bright amber, scarlet, evergreen, and gentle light lime colored tops. Seeing this natural beautiful causing me to temporarily forget my inquisition and smile, remembering how much I love this time of year.

Ahead was a small antique white cottage with honey brown stutters coupled with a narrow pebble walkway towards the front doorway. Large wind chimes chanting a beautiful lullaby were stationed at every corner of the home. Everything felt like a fairytale, as if I was dreaming and the next thing I remember was falling unexpectedly to the ground.


	3. If They Call It Heartache Chapter 3

Continuing on we'll now discover more about Alice's grandmother and their magical family history along with the brief introduction to Jasper. Comment and questions are always welcome! I did change up the summary to better reflect the direction the story is going in. Please Enjoy :) **********

Before I could process my anger of yet another demonstration of just how exceedingly horrific I was at the simple task of even walking, I realized that instead of feeling the cold hard forest floor I was safely being cradled in someones arms. Inhaling sharply I was able to detect the most wonderfully decadent smell I had ever experienced. Almost as sweet as the ripe crisp taste of a honey-suckle without being over-powering yet somehow mixed with a slight infusion of freshly cut cedar-wood. While experiencing my own little blissful world, I heard a soft cough and instantly opened my eyes to see a beautiful creature to match the alluring smell.

"Glad that you're back with us Ma'am' softy drawled the angel topped with short golden-curled locks accompanied with a razor sharp jaw-line formed around a wide friendly smile, a strong chiseled greek nose, and a oh-so-familiar pair of bright golden hued eyes. "Jasper, I think the calming relaxation technique is a little too much for Bella right now, at this rate she'll forget all about your brother", I turned to see Alice come into my line of vision. The look of raw emotion in Alice's eyes while looking up at Jasper startled me awake from my day-dreaming. I knew instantly just how important he must be to her. "I...um..well...I..." the english language seemed to completely elude me in this exceedingly mortifying situation.

For what seemed like an eternity, my brain and vocal cords finally caught back up with one another and I managed to gather what little dignity that I could muster. I continued on, "Please put me down, I'll try my hardest not to be attacked by my own feet from now on", ending with a wholly unconvincing smile. "Don't be embarrassed Bella, it could have happened to anyone. The good thing is that you weren't hurt" Alice attempted to comfort me while Jasper gently lowered me onto my accident-prone feet.

Able to now think a little more clearly without being in the arms of charming Jasper, I gradually looked around my surroundings again and found that now we were right outside the entryway to the cottage doorway. Feeling the soft rounded stones of the walkway under the sole of my sneakers, the afternoons events came hurdling back. All of my unanswered questions rapidly being crushed by newly formed inquires about Jasper's relation to Edward.

"Come on Bella, let's go inside and talk", Alice stepped close to my side and tenderly took my hand in hers. I didn't have enough emotional room left to analyze why I no longer felt the urge to apply my 'no-physical contact allowed' rule with Alice, despite our short lived friendship. Friendship! What is happening to me?! I screamed internally, knowing that I had never uttered the title let alone expressed the desire in the past for anyone I'd ever met.

Jasper walked in front of us and opened the massive oval wooden doorway, I followed wordlessly by Alice's side with my head down trying to brace myself both mentally and physically for meeting another new person. Instead to my surprise as I crossed into the warm, cozy threshold into opened arms. "I'm so happy to finally met you Bella, Alice has talked about you non-stop for weeks now. You're more beautiful then she described though sweetheart" beamed a older teenage version of Alice.

Seemly the only difference being the short-spiky disarray of ebony hair surrounding her friendly petite face. "Bella, I'd like to introduce you to my grandmother Cynthia", Alice stated while I stood red-faced, suffering whiplash from looking back and forth at the two twin-like fairy creatures standing in front of my eyes.

At this point, so accustomed to not understanding my newfound reality, I simply uttered "So, this is something else to add to the list of stuff you're going to explain to me, right Alice?". I looked imploringly into her eyes, hopeful that she would confirm my question. Before she could answer Cynthia took hold of my hand and lead me gingerly towards the nearby plush floral-print sofas. I didn't resist her, recognizing that she and I somehow shared a similar connection like I'd begun to feel towards her granddaughter.

For some reason I knew that she was going to be the one to begin this tale. "I know that you have many questions Bella and promise that we'll answer each and every one, but please be patient and open minded with the explanations that we do give. Before Alice explains how you're involved with all of this, perhaps it would be easier if I told you about our family", Cynthia said wearily smiling at me, carefully judging my reaction to her words. Outwardly I must have appeared somewhat calm or at the very least seemed willing to listen because she then begin to tell me the enchanting Brandon family history.

"Despite my youthful physical appearance, I can promise you that I am in fact Alice's real grandmother. I was born Claudette Dubois in the territory now considered Mississippi on September 23, 1575 to a very large immigrant family native to a small village off the coast of southern France. My father spent decades saving money from his woodcutting profession before making the perilous journey across the waters to this new country in search of new opportunities.

Luckily for him, he met my beautiful mother soon after his arrival and they begin building a successful lumber and trade business. Throughout the ever changing territorial lines and country leaderships, I lead a reasonably normal childhood along side my eight brothers and three sisters, at least until a few months before my eighteenth birthday. By that time I was already happily settled into married life with my late husband Pierre Bertrand, ignorant to the world developing around me or my spelling-binding ancestral history, kept carefully hidden by my parents.

I remember as a child inquiring about my mother and fathers relatives in France; however, each time I was met with very hostile responses in order to dismiss the subject entirely or I was provided a very vague answer, which always left me wanting more. I just could not accept that my loving, compassionate parents could have such a ill-disposed position against their own families that they would work so hard to prevent me from discovering any information about them. Since the lack of knowledge about our family history never seemed to bother any of my other siblings, I realized that I was the only one that could find out the truth.

I begin to search in private all throughout my childhood and early teenage years. I combed my parents home from top to bottom whenever I was alone there, yet I found nothing. With each passing day, I felt an even stronger sense of urgency in finding out my families history as if everything depended upon it. All the while I was experiencing ever intense dreams centered around a women who looked remarkably like me except that the time period shown seemed like at least a century prior than mine. Discouraged by no results, I begin to except my fate when one night my elaborate nightly visions suddenly revealed a image from the present day.

It begin like any normal morning whereby I awoke along side my husband; however, instead of gently waking him I travelled downstairs and out the backdoor. Abruptly I was outside of my parents front yard staring up at the ancient Elm tree, a fixture of my childhood, when I felt sudden chilly breeze to my right side. Turning I saw the familiar face that had been a part of my sub-conscience for years now. Kneeling down, the ghosty figure positioned her hands stretched out over the ground. Instantly a enormous binding of several books begin to float upwards, stopping on top of her hands.

She then turned towards me and motioned for me to come forward to take the books from her hands. As soon as I gathered the strength to take a step towards her, the books were immediately placed within in my arms, the weight of which was almost too much to bear. It was then that she chose to speak, 'My lovely Claudette, it's been so wonderful to watch you learn and grow over the years. Although I am no longer able to help guide you, I know that you will take the knowledge from those books and prepare for the future. There are troubling times to come and if you are not ready they will destroy not only our clan but the rest of the covens as well.

Work closely along side your allies but remember that no one is inherently evil, that there is always the opportunity to gain true love even in the darkest hour. As my granddaughter you will soon inherit our families great responsibility and the burden that it carries as well; however, I know that you are more than capable of the task at hand. I love you so much'. I could barely see my grandmothers figure fade away, into the crisp night air, through the thick vail of my tears and crumpled into the unyielding earth beneath me as my legs gave way.

I closed my eyes hopeful that she would reappear when I opened then. I tried again and again to force myself into believing that she was not really gone from my life, but I knew the truth. I finally drew up the courage and opened my dry, waterless eyes. Instead of kneeling heartbroken at the trunk of my parents elm tree, I was back in my bedroom. The bright morning rays shining blindly through my window. I felt my husbands even breathing next to me and calmed down a bit knowing that he was still obvious to my plight.

I remember taking a deep breath while swinging my legs to the side of the bed, when I looked down. I was covered in thick layers of dirt and mud from my feet to my knees continuing upwards to my hands, up to my elbows. Jumping out of bed I looked around and saw my grandmothers giant bundle sacked neatly in the floor next to my bedside table. Quickly I gathered them and struggled up to the attic to hide them. Although I trusted Pierre with my heart, I had yet to analyze it myself and was clueless on how I would explain it to another human being without sounding like an alyssum patient.

The day of my eightieth birthday I was prepared as instructed. I had committed almost every waking second of my life to reading and rereading my grandmothers books, discovering my ancient lineage with the extraordinary world of Witchcraft". Alice's grandmother stopped and seemed prepared for my shocked expression at her last word. She gave my hand a comforting squeeze before continuing on. If someone had told me this morning I'd be in a remote cottage in the forest with a girl, her presumed boyfriend, and grandmother discussing the world of Witchcraft I'd have laughed for hours. Yet, here I was without any urge to flee only to hear more, maybe it was my desire to hear Alice's upcoming explanation about Edwards appearance at the nursing station, but I wanted more than anything at this moment then to hear this enthralling tale.


	4. If They Call It Heartache Chapter 4

**If you're reading Chapter 4, THANK YOU! Now we continue on with a ton of insight into Alice's grandmother Cynthia aka Claudette and their family history centered around the murderous Volturi and eventually tying into Bella's as well. I love comments and questions too! Enjoy! :) *************

"One book in particular revealed that my family were descendants of a ancient line of powerful Witches,"she continued on,"in fact we were one of the five founding families dating back centuries ago in what is now considered Europe. Back then the five families worked together as one to keep the peace between all of the witch covens and they succeeded in their efforts at least until the devastating violent uprise from the Volturi. With a commanding force of thousands centered around three dynamic leaders - Aro, Marcus, and Caius - they were an unstoppable savage force.

Although many of the Volturi had inherent supernatural powers, the majority of them were exclusively hand-picked by Aro because they had one or more extraordinary abilities such as Tiela with the capability to alter and create memories, Chelsea able to increase emotional connections for increased loyalty to the coven, or even more frightful those physically adept like Niko at harming others with electricity or William who provides agonizing exposure to intense heat or coldness. Not to be surpassed, the leaders are also endowed with skills.

Aro is seemly the most formidable of the three since by mere touch, he is privy to a persons complete personal history, every solitary thought, emotion, or physical interaction with another person is instantly revealed to him. Marcus has the ability to detect how strong particular relationships were, as well as the exact extent of the relationship. This effectively helps to keep the Volturi and its members bonded together by quickly recognizing any hint of dissent, utilizing Chelsea's powers to mend them. The youngest of the three, Caius is also the most ruthless with his judgements and is able to effortlessly tell when someone is being deceitful or truthful.

Together they decided to completely disregard their ancestors previous harmonious co-existence with witches, instead choosing to promote their twisted beliefs onto others. Their theory was that witches would one day gather in numbers and prepare a show-of-force against their kind. This unfounded fear and jealousy of another mythical-being with powers lead to uneasy tension between the two sides for decades. This changed when radical segments of supporters for the Volturi begin horrendously murdering witches across the country without provocation . With the Volturi refusing to acknowledge and dismantle the fringe group, war quickly erupted between our two worlds.

Once powerful allies were shattered amidst lies, manipulation, and shear brutality on both sides with only one remaining respected universal common law - to remain hidden from the humans. Horrifyingly , the death tolls rose to such devastating levels that remains were being mixed with humans who had lost already their struggle against the Black Plague, afflicting Europe at that time, in an effort to disguise the severe population loss.

With no hope of the tide of the war changing in their favor, the founding families were forced into hiding. They knew what capture by the Volturi meant - immediate painful death or lengthy gruesome torture to gather information on surviving witches. With the aid of allies inside the Volturi clan, the founding families sought refuge by secretly integrating among human beings thereby scattering their members throughout the developing world around them.

Even with my families powers of premonition - past, present, and future - combined together to help foresee impending attacks, the witch population continued to decrease due to traitors amongst our kind, the shear numbers of the Volturi, and the founding families being locked in frequent disagreement as to how to handle the chaos. The families did agree that it would be certainly be centuries before any one of their descendants would be able to practice magic again.

Until then it was decided that all of the knowledge would be written down separately by each of the five families and hidden, along with their individual Onyx- Star stones, to be unveiled by a spiritual elder at the right moment. By doing so, no particular individual would have the burden of all witchcraft knowledge or the capability of having unlimited powers if the five Onyx-Star stones were combined together. The elder witches soon bound their powers as well as the powers of future generations of all other witch families in order to go undetected from Volturi.

The binding spell effectively begin their aging process again, as each witch ages very slowly after they receive their powers typically at age eighteen. For every one human year, a witch ages five to ten years or more in comparison, depending on the strength of the particular families powers. As the Volturi were fully aware of this particular gift, observing their witch prisoners over the decades remaining the same physically, the witches were never fully secure in one place and had to establish new identity and locations frequently.

Knowing that the Volturi were focusing their trackers exclusively on practicers of witchcraft, witches begin to dismantle their family unity further. Many chose to provide a safer upbringing for their children by leaving them securely with honorable human families unaware of their magical backgrounds, only that the parents were in critical need of assistance. Utmost secrecy was established by this pact and the children grew up obvious to their families past.

Discovering my families magical linage was already a tremendous amount of information to process; however, learning that the two individuals who raised me and helped to create a happy childhood were not actually my biological parents completely devastated me. I felt like an impostor amongst them and my siblings, a different species trying to blend in. Secretly I had always felt like I did not belong, like I was missing some important aspect of what is mean to be the 'real Claudette'".

"I was in the fetal position rocking back and forth when Pierre found me", Alice's grandmother softy whispered while reaching for her cup of tea. I hadn't even realized that the tea tray had been brought out. Jasper quickly, almost at inhuman speed, was at her side lifting the cup and saucer into her shaking hands. I was at a lost as to how to comfort her, feeling that my lowly insignificant history could reap no amount of empathy at what she had been through.

Instead I placed my hand over hers and focused on what I'd heard of the Brandon history thus far. I realized that some distant memory was awakened when the Volturi's name was mentioned although I still hadn't been able to unlock its secrets. "You will remember it in time, don't worry Bella", Alice gently said. I looked up at her, sitting on the sofa across from me, and knew that she truly cared about me.

"I know how that this is a lot to process right now Bella, but trust me that it is very important to understand the past in order for us to help change the future" Cynthia/Claudette said compassionately turning once more to face me. "I want to know more, please continue"I stated with more confidence then I felt. Yesterday at this time I was in my room reading my worn copy of 'Jane Eyre' and now I'm directly in the mist of my own complicated tale.

"Distraught over this presumed heavy burden and childishly thinking that Pierre would run in fear if he ever discovered my new secret", she continued on. "I awoke violently from my cationic-rocking and moved swiftly to throw all of the books in to the attics' fireplace; however, I was immediately braced back gently in Pierre's arms. 'Listen Claudette, please just listen!'he screamed at me. Disregarding even his intense angrily outburst I still sought only to hide the evidence of my ancestors until he finally released my wrists. I then saw what I had missed earlier that morning since Pierre was under the bedding covers and even now- there were two sets of muddy footprints on the attics floor.

'Your grandmother figured that a fellow witch or warlock in my case, although not a descendent of a founding family, would be a great assistance to you right now and being your husband was just an added bonus', he smiled his wonderfully crooked smile at me realizing that my sanity had returned. 'My beautiful Claudette, we were always destined to be together, it just took your grandmothers final spell to allow my memories of my families past to return in order to fully be able to help you with the journey ahead.'

He went on to reveal the centuries of connections between our two families, how the war with the Volturi had torn the two apart, and by the end of it I had regained my inherited powers of past-premonition up until the present day of us embracing each other in our attic. I looked down at my wedding ring, knowing that looked to others like a normal diamond placed in a simple gold band but was actually a cloaking of my families Onyx-Star Stone enchanted as ring by my grandmother during the found families power binding process. I felt a small sense of relief knowing that my stone protected not only Pierre from detection from the Volturi but my unborn child as well.

As the months passed we worked tirelessly researching each book to figure out ways to contact any remaining descendants from the other four families, for even with my past-premonition I was unable to detect their whereabouts after binding due to a protection spell. I was; however, able to draw upon my stone to sense any witches or warlocks that were nearby. With this, Pierre and I decided to search the world secretly for our kind to help reveal just how many of our kind were out there. We spent decades exploring with our newborn daughter Mary-Anne, managing to locate a handful who could be of great use in the future based upon their families history.

We were extremely careful to not draw attention to ourselves, quietly observing and making sure to avoid the strong hold of the Volturi, now located in Tuscany, Italy. On our journey back home from a trip to the southern tip of Africa, I experienced such an intense premonition that I was in a coma for a week, awakened with the knowledge of another dying founding family member imploring me to pass on her families books to her descendent two generations from my time.

I was instructed on where to find the books; however, knew that the stone would somehow reach the descendent on its, own like my wedding ring for me, and that I sense the owner when he or she was ready to inherit the responsibility. I grew weary over the centuries that I might have missed the recipient or fate had changed until I moved here to Forks. Even before Alice had her future-premonition I knew that the stone was nearby, though she was able to provide a beautiful facial sketch for me", with that Cynthia/Claudette reached into her sweaters pocket, unfolded a thick piece of paper and placed it in my lap.

My breathing stopped as I looked down at the carefully drawn black and white charcoal mirror image of myself. This must be some sort of elaborate practical joke, I'd suffered though those in the past and knew how to mask my emotions; however, I this felt nothing like those times. Suddenly I felt a rush of calm and immediately eyed Jasper, knowing that somehow he was the cause of it. Ridiculous! How could Jasper possibly be able to make me feel calm without even uttering a word!? Instantly the feeling stopped and Alice was on her knees at my side by the sofa, holding my hands, prepared for any reaction that I would provide. Her grandmother; on the other hand, looked imploringly at my neck before reaching forward and grasping my necklace. "Look Bella, really look at your necklace"she begged. Looking down at my pendent, the emerald stone at the center begin to darken, settling into a clear onyx hue.


End file.
